The Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is a standard for digital wireless communications with different services, such as voice telephony. The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) inside GSM phones was originally designed as a secure way to connect individual subscribers to the network but is nowadays becoming a standardized and secure application platform for GSM and next generation networks.
The Mobile Station (MS) is what the user ever sees from the whole system. The MS actually consists of two distinct entities. The actual hardware is the Mobile Equipment (ME), which consists of the physical equipment, such as the radio transceiver, display and digital signal processors. The subscriber information is stored in the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), implemented as a Smart Card.
With respect to the terminology used in this document, The Mobile Station (MS) includes the Mobile Equipment (ME) and the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The terms “Handset” and “Terminal” are used as a synonym to the Mobile Equipment (ME) and the term “Mobile device” as a synonym to The Mobile Station (MS).
The mobile equipment is uniquely identified by the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) being a unique code that corresponds to a specific GSM handset while the SIM card, in turn, is identified by the Integrated Circuit Card Identity (ICCID) determining the serial number of the card, and contains the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), identifying the subscriber, a secret key for authentication, and other user information. The IMEI and the IMSI or MSISDN are independent and can thereby provide personal mobility.
The Mobile Station Integrated Service Digital Network Number, MSISDN, is the standard international telephone number used to identify a given subscriber. The operator declares the subscription in a database inside the network, which holds the correspondence between the IMSI and the MSISDN. By inserting the SIM card into another GSM terminal, the user is able to receive and make calls from that terminal, and receive other subscribed services.
Advanced mobile services such as browsing, multimedia messaging, mobile e-mail, and device management can only be used if a mobile phone is configured correctly. However, many customers do not know how to configure their device. Operators must ensure that device configuration is quick and easy for the customer. This process of managing device settings and applications is called device management.
A device management session includes e.g. authentication (user verification), device inventory (a device management application read which parameters and applications are installed in the telephone for future decisions, such as e.g. updating, adding and deleting things from the installations), continuous provisioning (a device management application e.g. updates parameters on the telephone device, sends applications to the device, performs software and firmware updates), device diagnostics (error finding), etc.
Sending new settings over the air is one simple way to provision a device with configuration parameters, such as connectivity information (device settings). After receiving the settings to configure the phone, the customer simply saves them to the phone and is then able to use the services. For the operator, simplifying access to advanced services can bring higher usage rates, new revenue streams, and reduced customer helpline costs.
However, a mobile device consists of two entities: the subscriber identity module (SIM) and the terminal. In a mobile device management environment both entities that make up the “device” are of interest. Both those entities are subject to mobile device management operations.
In a unified device management environment a “device” consists of two entities. For some devices it is the data objects residing in the terminal that are targeted and sometimes it is data objects residing on the SIM. This means that the format of the provisioning content is significantly different even if the parameters may be the same. It is a jungle to keep track of the details of how a particular mobile device needs to be managed.
It is also a problem that there might be different solutions for different mobile devices. One device might have Multimedia Message Service (MMS) settings on the SIM card and another device might have them in an OMA DM management Object (MO) in the terminal.
Furthermore, the fact that a mobile device consists of two independent units, the terminal and the SIM, introduces an additional level of complexity. The SIM card might support storing of MMS settings on the SIM card but then there has to be an application program in the terminal that supports reading the settings off the SIM card.
Therefore the capabilities of both the SIM and the terminal need to be analysed in combination in order to determine the applicable provisioning protocol and provisioning content format. To simply look at the capabilities of the terminal alone will not be enough.
For devices supporting OMA DM, data residing in the handset is represented by standardized Management Objects (MO) as specified by the OMA DM protocol. The protocol specifies how the MOs may be managed (i.e. read, updated, deleted . . . ) by a remote server side component. There are just a few, three actually, MOs that are specified as mandatory. In addition to those mobile device vendors will implement more MOs according to their own needs and ideas.
There are also plenty of “legacy” devices that have data stored in the handset in a non-specified proprietary way and in such cases there is sometimes a proprietary device management protocol available that is adhered to by one or more terminal manufacturers. The device management protocols used for communicating with terminal residing application programs and SIM residing application programs are essentially different. The application programs and their respective communication protocols have evolved one by one often on a proprietary basis. Some companies, have published their own specifications of protocol and format for provisioning their mobile devices with e.g. connectivity parameters over-the-air (OTA). Such proprietary “legacy” OTA provisioning protocol are still being used.
There are multiple data objects specified for storing the same data. Multiple standards and specifications exist for how to maintain connectivity parameters in a mobile device, e.g. on the SIM card, in an MO in the OMA DM user agent, as an XML document or proprietary somewhere in the phone.
OMA Device Management Protocol (OMA DM) is a standard for communication between mobile devices and device management server systems. The standardization body is OMA, Open Mobile Alliance. The mobile device to be managed is equipped with an OMA DM user agent in the device (i.e. terminal or handset) that speaks the OMA DM language.
Device management applications using OMA DM are typically used by mobile service providers. They are used for customer care purposes and to increase revenue by effective value added service management. Example use-cases involve service- and settings provisioning, device diagnostics, statistics, firmware- and software upgrade.
In this document, a system that is able to manage both the handset and the SIM card is referred to as a Unified Device Management system (UDM). In the scope of UDM, both the SIM residing and the terminal residing data and application programs are of interest and must be managed.
In this document, the term SIM file management (SFM) is used for device management operations towards SIM cards. Data residing on the SIM are represented by a SIM file structure where a file is indicated by a file path. How the data in the SIM files should be encoded is specified to the transport level as well as to the application level. There are several standards around, both from 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The original scope of 3GPP was to produce globally applicable Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for a 3rd Generation Mobile System based on evolved GSM core networks and the radio access technologies that they support and was subsequently amended to include the maintenance and development of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) Technical Specifications and Technical Reports including evolved radio access technologies.
To keep track of what SIM card and terminal that has what files and what data management objects, capabilities are used. For example a terminal may be capable of using the OMA DM device management protocol by an OMA DM user agent supporting OMA DM version 1.2, by an OMA DM user agent supporting a number of optional OMA DM functions or it might be capable of accepting unprompted notification messages of Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type. MIME extends the format of Internet.
By keeping track of such capabilities, adaptive processes may be implemented, that automatically selects and imposes the applicable device management protocols and formats. Of course, the foundation of it all is that the system is aware of the mobile device identity and has repositories storing capabilities for both SIM cards and terminals.
Throughout this document, and also in standards, the term “provisioning content” (PC) is frequently used. Provisioning content is the content being provisioned. Content is like pay-load. In the use-case “provisioning of device settings” the provisioning content is the set of connectivity parameters. But this is just one use-case. The content in other use-cases may be e.g. software of some sort, a game, a picture or a firmware update package.
Whatever the content is it always has a dedicated format. The same provisioning PC may be provisioned to various different devices over various different protocols and packaged in various different formats.
The capabilities of the mobile device reveal what features, provisioning protocols and provisioning content formats it is capable of understanding.
This means that, in the present situation, “bridging features”, “adaptive processes”, “automatic conversion features” and “data management tools” are or would be extremely useful in order to enable seamless migration and easy-to-use future proof mobile device management systems. There will be a lot of “legacy” devices out there for quite some time yet. Meanwhile, screening out devices based on their capabilities is of essential importance.
Capabilities aware processes, meaning the terminal capabilities as well as SIM card capabilities. Capabilities refer to both “hard” capabilities such as mobile transport capabilities and more “soft” capabilities such as the presence of certain application programs on the terminal or SIM. Capabilities repositories enable screening out of devices with certain desired capabilities.
Unifying management of SIM card and terminal, seamless migration back and forth, uniform interfaces for UDM applications including automated protocol conversion
Bridging features, enabling uniform use-case based system that operates smoothly even as SIM cards and terminals evolve over time, causing a ruthless demand for yet new device management protocols and data formats again and again. Bridging features ensures seamless migration from one protocol to the next. In addition, bridging features ensures seamless management of all generation of devices existing at the same time in one and the same mobile device management system.
Thus, the correct format for a provisioning content is determined by a complex combination of capabilities: the OTA protocol, even the OTA protocol version, the terminal vendor, terminal model, the subscription type and the SIM card type. It is very complex to know by which provisioning content format a mobile device may be provisioned.
US patent application 2005055453 is presented as prior art. This patent is held by Microsoft and covers a specific conversion, from WAP client provisioning XML representation into OMA DM tree structure representation. The method in this patent does not include the use of capabilities to determine what conversion that is applicable. It is a straight forward computerized conversion where data objects of one format are mapped onto data objects of another. In addition the patent is limited to conversion between to specific formats.
A mobile device management system can be based on the key feature of storing provisioning content on the SIM card. However, there are some problems with implementing such a system since neither all SIM cards nor all terminals supports the concept.
All terminals do not for example support bootstrapping from SIM cards and all SIM cards do not support storing of provisioning content on the card. Terminals might also have multiple application programs, e.g. one for MMS, one for internet browsing, one for OMA DM etc., each with different capabilities where bootstrapping from SIM card is concerned.
If this is not the case, the mobile operator cannot use the easy, safe and suited for the purpose distribution of provisioning content on the SIM cards along with the subscription. Instead they need multiple systems implementing multiple device management protocols to provision settings OTA at a later point in time. A severe consequence is that subscribers are left without settings. Subscribers can then not start using application services immediately. In the worst scenario the mobile operator does not have a mobile device management system ensured with discovering devices and therefore is left with the only option to wait for the end-user to initiate bootstrap.
There is more than one specification specifying how to store provisioning content on SIM. MMS settings are specified by 3GPP and OMA Dm settings by OMA
Different solutions for different mobile devices are also a problem, one device might have MMS settings on the SIM card and another might have them in an OMA DM MO.
Furthermore, the fact that a mobile device consists of two independent units, the terminal and the SIM, introduces an additional level of complexity. The SIM card might support storing MMS settings on the SIM card but if there is no application program in the terminal that supports reading the settings off the SIM card.
The object of the invention is to develop methods and systems for how bridging features may be provided in order to enable a Mobile Device Management (MDM) system based on the key feature of storing provisioning content on the SIM card or other modules in a mobile device.
The method of the invention is for provisioning content in a device management system in order to facilitate provisioning of mobile devices with contents of non-applicable formats for provisioning in a module therein in a device management system in a mobile network infrastructure. The system comprises a device management application and repositories, and in the method, the following steps are performed by the management application, which consist of checking the capabilities of a mobile device from one or more repositories of the device management system, retrieving the provisioning content from a module in a mobile device, converting the provisioning content into an applicable format for provisioning, and provisioning the device.
The system of the invention comprises one or more device capabilities repositories, a device management application used for checking of the capabilities of a mobile device from one or more repositories of the device management system, retrieving the provisioning content from a module in a mobile device, converting the provisioning content into an applicable format for provisioning, and for provisioning the terminal.
The starting point for this invention is the idea of an enabling bridge-and-hide feature in the mobile device management system that lets a mobile service provider introduce and deploy provisioning content stored on SIM one-sidedly.
It is a fact that not all SIM cards support storing provisioning content. Neither do all terminals support bootstrapping from the SIM card. (I.e. reading the provisioning content from the SIM card and installing the connectivity parameters in the respective terminal applications.)
The intention is to enable the Mobile Device Management (MDM) system to apply the concept as if all devices actually supported storing provisioning content on the SIM card and bootstrapping via SIM. The invention lets the mobile service provider one-sidedly decide to deploy provisioning content stored on the SIM even if the mobile devices do not support it.
The solution is an innovative method to manage the provisioning content seamlessly and independently of storage media. In implementation, the provisioning content may be stored in a network side database or on the SIM card. But in concept, and as seen from the system user, the provisioning content is stored on the SIM card. (It is virtually on the SIM card all the time.)
The invention covers an adaptive bridging feature that takes care of the management of provisioning content that is stored on the SIM card.
A rough introductory feature description:                If the terminal cannot read provisioning content from SIM, or if the terminal does not support bootstrapping from the SIM card then the invention reads the parameters off the SIM, and returns them to (provision) the terminal instead and the invention can take the necessary actions to bootstrap the mobile device via the SIM card. Thus, the invention retrieves the provisioning content from the SIM card and converts the format into the applicable terminal bound OTA provisioning protocol. In this way, the provisioning content reaches its destination in the terminal, from the SIM card and back to the terminal where the parameters are installed.        If the SIM card cannot store the provisioning content, then the invention provisions the terminal directly with parameters from a database on the server side        If the SIM card has not been pre-provisioned, the invention provisions the SIM card with the provisioning content, in order to let the terminal bootstrap via the SIM card.        
The method is based on a capabilities aware mobile device management system. What that means is that the system can determine how and by what means provisioning content is managed by a mobile device. This is achieved by the use of capabilities repositories.
Which protocol and format that is applicable for provisioning will depend on a complex combination of all of the device capabilities. For example, for one mobile device, settings for Multimedia Service (MMS) might be residing in a SIM file and settings for OMA DM in an MO in the terminal. While for another terminal both kind of settings are stored in MOs in the terminal. Adaptive processes are necessary to manage.
Nowadays most mobile devices support some kind of OTA provisioning. There are OTA provisioning protocols for terminal residing data and SIM residing data.
For terminal residing data objects:
“Legacy” protocols that are based on short messages (SMS) to carry the provisioning content using to a dedicated data format of the application data unit. The legacy protocols use several vendor specific (proprietary) formats to carry the provisioning content.
OMA Client Provisioning that uses an XML document to carry the provisioning content. There is a dedicated OMA specification that specifies the provisioning content markup.
OMA DM Bootstrap that uses an XML document to carry the provisioning content. (Applies to connectivity parameters for OMA DM protocol only). This markup is different from the OMA CP markup, i.e. a different format
For SIM residing data objects:
RFM is the OTA provisioning protocol carried over SMS. Part of determining the provisioning content “format” is to determine the identity of the files (EF) to which the provisioning content shall be written. Part is to determine how the provisioning content itself should be encoded. Part is to determine by the SIM card type whether there is any particular flavor of RFM protocol to be used. In the SIM case protocol and format is therefor tightly connected.
In order to implement the determination process, by which the correct provisioning content format is selected there is a need for terminal and SIM card type specific capabilities.
In the invention, repositories for terminal capabilities and SIM card capabilities are used for the process of determining the provisioning content format. Capabilities repositories are essential for managing the provisioning. For example: in some mobile device model it is the provisioning content resides in terminal media and in some other it resides on-SIM. It is the same old connectivity parameters, but the provisioning protocols and content formats are significantly different depending on where and how it is stored in the mobile device
The invention covers conversion of a format applicable for SIM residing data objects into terminal residing data objects. Nowadays most mobile devices support some kind of Over-The Air (OTA) provisioning. There are OTA provisioning protocols for terminal residing data and SIM residing data.
For terminal residing data objects, there are s.c. a) “Legacy” protocols that are based on short messages (SMS) to carry the provisioning content using to a dedicated data format of the application data unit. The legacy protocols use several vendor specific (proprietary) formats to carry the provisioning content, b) an Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Client Provisioning specification that uses an XML document to carry the provisioning content. The dedicated OMA specification that specifies the provisioning content markup, c) an OMA DM Bootstrap specification that uses an XML document to carry the provisioning content. This markup is different from the OMA CP markup, i.e. have a different format.
For SIM residing data objects, there is the Remote File Management (RFM) protocol, which is the OTA provisioning protocol carried over SMS.
The method and system implements:
Device management repositories facilitating the possibility to determine the correct provisioning content format based on the capabilities of the terminal and the SIM card constituting the mobile device:
A terminal capabilities repository (TCR) storing information about what application services, technologies and so on that a terminal is capable of. The TCR also stores information about what OTA provisioning protocols a terminal may be provisioned over and specific information about provisioning content format particulars when so needed.
A SIM card capabilities repository (SCR) storing information about the management objects (files) available on the SIM card and whether or not these file may be managed from remote.
A subscription- and SIM card relationship repository storing information about the capabilities of the SIM card for a particular subscription. Thereby this repository provides the means to match a subscription with a SIM card type.
A device identities repository (DIR) storing the mobile device identities as identified by a terminal identity and a subscription identity [IMEI, MSISDN].
Once the applicable format has been determined the method automatically implements the actual conversion from a SIM card provisioning content format into the into the particular terminal applicable format based on the capabilities of the mobile device targeted.
The invention covers conversion from formats applicable for SIM residing data objects into formats applicable for terminal residing data objects. The formats may be any, both standardised formats as well as proprietary formats.
In the following the invention will be described by means of some typical examples by referring to figures. The intention is not to restrict the invention to these examples because they are presented to illustrate the invention only.